Epitaxial thin-film growth of Ruddlesden–Popper-type Ba3Zr2O7 from a BaZrO3 target by pulsed laser deposition

• Main Authors: Butt, S. H., Rafique, M. S., Siraj, K., Latif, A., Afzal, A., Awan, M. S., Bashir, S., Iqbal, N.
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer Verlag 2016
• Subjects: QH Natural history
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/72390/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84975780428&doi=10.1007%2fs00339-016-0189-2&partnerID=40&md5=25f65817d159ea6fc8940a4e36ca0e19

Ruddlesden–Popper Ba3Zr2O7 thin films have been synthesized via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The optimization of deposition parameters in PLD enables the formation of thin film of metastable Ba3Zr2O7 phase from BaZrO3 target. In order to see the post-annealing effects on the structural and optical properties, the deposited Ba3Zr2O7 thin films were annealed at 500, 600 and 800 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals the formation of Ba3Zr2O7 phase with tetragonal structure. The changes in the surface of the deposited films were analysed by FE-SEM and AFM. The thin film post-annealed at 500 °C exhibited the best structural, optical and surface properties. Furthermore, the chemical states and chemical composition of the films were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) near the surface. The XPS results show that Ba, Zr and O exist mainly in the form of Ba3Zr2O7 Ruddlesden–Popper-type perovskite structure.